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Music/Soundtrack Thread

Those who have read my posts and threads before, perhaps have seen me continually bash Rift's music as mostly bland and even annoying to hear.
The combat music uninspired, the good parts (Sanctum, some of Silverwood, Mathosia starting zone, Iron Pine, etc) not emphasised enough in compositiion overall.
So much of the music just blurring into each other (the insessent male choir, the 'tings' and drums of combat music of almost all zones, zone music lacking much identity).

It's so strange to hear from the Dragon Age composer, and sadly, it is like Rift is about 1/3 the quality of Dragon Age in the soundtrack department - except for a few standout tracks, like the original title music, which Trion didn't even utilize to its fullest and the actual game doesn't include the awesome female vocals.

However, from what I've heard so far from Pelladane, Tempest Bay, and Cape Jule.... I'm not blown away, but my complaints are now *sated*

Ranked in quality:

#1 - Tempest Bay
Wow, this is a real MMORPG city track! It doesn't annoy on repeated listens like Meridian can (Meridian can be too intense to some players, even if the theme itself is good), and it doesn't lack intensity like Sanctum's theme can at times.
It really does feel like the best parts of both faction cities' themes, along with more polish and a feeling of the Ascended 'moving forward' in their exploration of Telara and the Planes. A real 'expedition', but with Pelladane helping you out in your endeavor, before the factions move into the Planes themselves and fully take off their training wheels

It also reminded me of the better parts of Final Fantasy XII's soundtrack, and along with the visual style, I almost thought I was in Archadia (urban empire city), Balfonheim (sea port city), or Bhujerba (sky city) put all together!4.5/5, pretty awesome!

#2 - Cape Jule
I still haven't heard all of what it offers, but I likey! In fact, for the most part, Cape Jule has the music I was originally hoping for Rift from the beginning. It really drew me into this wild and untamed region, while making me feel I was in a real 'Safe Haven' in the town (which mostly felt like an actual town!). I really enjoyed it, and even just sitting there listening to the music. Downside might be the combat music, but I can't confirm it because I don't remember it much. Again, as I've said before, please include 'Disable Combat Music' and 'Loop Music' options!4/5, could be better, but still a very nice sign of what the SL soundtrack contains

#3 - Kingdom of Pelladane
Hmm....
Pros: It's intense. A real wrecked land is being communicated here, barely holding on. Like Mathosia x2 in intensity, in some ways. Storm Legion holds almost all, but Pelladane resists even with the nightmare right in front of them. In a way, this reminded me of the Mathosia starting zones, except more alien and less classic fantasy. The music reflects this, and communicates the real disaster that happens when the Dragons are allowed to get their hold on a land and its peoples. I'm quite on edge here, even when there's no danger, because of the music, and this is appropriate. I get the feeling that this zone isn't great for the 'hang outs' and we should just do what we need to do in this smaller zone, then get the hell out! This is both good and bad.
Cons: It's, for once, a bit too much. Track should have had more elegant lulls in intensity, to reflect the actual Kingdom of Pelladane a little bit more. Nothing like the morose and beautiful Stillmoor theme, but still more of a hint of the kinddom we're supposed to help protect. Also, the combat music isn't much new, except maybe with a little more intensity to reflect that you're part of a new war against a much more prepared enemy (the Storm Legion).3.5/5, still good and nice for a 'nightmarish' intro zone (hello Hellfire Peninsula! )

#4 - Planar tracks
I'm not sure if much changed here, if anything. If you know, please write it down below. I'm hoping that Trion does look into creating more variety in planar/rift music, including 1-2 more versions for each type of Rift. Maybe keep the current rift music for Minor Rifts, but create new music at some point for Brevane and Dusken's Major, Hunt (which I assume are pretty much the new Expert Rifts for most intents and purposes?), and Raid Rifts.

Overall, the soundtrack went from a 3-3.5/5 overall, to a 4/5. It went from 'average and a bit enjoyable, but also weak' to now 'acceptable and interesting', and I really want to hear what the vast rest of the expansion contains.

(For the record, I would rate the current soundtracks of WoW as 4.5/5, TOR as 3.5/5, TSW as 4/5, AoC as 4.5/5, GW2 4.5-5/5. My main message here is that Rift's soundtrack is now 'good', and I'm actually very pleased by this!)

I never played the dungeon Exodus of the Storm Queen, so I can't include it here.
Oh, and I still see combat music as a bit of a weakness of the game, and it doesn't have much variety from zone to zone. I know it is supposed to be 'distinctive to Rift', but come on... wayyyy too many drums and fast strings, etc.

Alright, I've:
-not touched Brevane so far this event
-finished the main story, carnage quests, and all but 10 of the quests needed for the zone quest achievement of Kingdom of Pelladane
-got about... 1/5 into Seratos? It's friggin massive so I dunno. I'm at the second portal where some Caretakers are, fighting Shapers, and just got to see Kain again (can we please give him voice acting?) in a quest
-reached Lv 52, good pace. Some may complain about exp rate compared to the main story quest mob level as you continue, but I think they miss the point that you're kinda meant to dabble in several forms of gameplay if you want a very steady experience gain, not just the main story

So to update KoP and Seratos..

1)KoP - Pretty awesome music overall. The high-tenseness of the music can be annoying after a while (especially with the lightning being so very frequent..), but when the music is going, its really going, and feels finally PROPERLY epic. Very nice. Not my favorite, but very nice while spending time in this comparatively small zone. 4/5 now

2)Seratos - Fantastic! The chanting is here! The music overall is also very fitting for the zone, its story, its enemies, terrain, and atmosphere. Having the music on full blast + maximum graphics + turning off the UI while looking at Crucia fly in the distance = some of the best 'immersion' I've felt in Rift, ever. It's a 4.5 instead of a 5 because the 'spooky' tracks tend to just miss that little something that is truly impressive compared to other soundtrack pieces, but that's not a bad thing here. The music in this zone is perfect nonetheless

The zone itself is pretty awesome too. While doing an exploration run through it I found it was quite sparse and wondered where all the enemies, hubs, and questing areas were, but now that I'm questing through it, it feels perfect. I feel truly at danger here and have to play my soul setup to the best of my ability to survive the 40,000HP mobs, but its still not unreasonably hard. The questing areas also THANKFULLY do NOT feel cut+paste, like even Cape Jule and KoA can kinda-sorta feel at times.

Seratos really feels like a truly exploratory zone, and I haven't experienced that in original Rift zones save for Iron Pine Peak, Gloamwood, Ember Isle, and Shimmersand (sort of). The rest of the zones, especially Freemarch and Scarwood, felt too.... I don't know how to put it, but Seratos feels the OPPOSITE.

i freaking love LOVE LOoooOoOoVE, the music in seratos, i enter the zone, and im like ohhmerrrgerrd, rift now has actual music in its zones! <3 it. its theme, tone just everything about it. its delicous. i sit there and just listen to it, on full blast in my headphones and daydream, i was sitting next to my brother (a wow fanboy) and i was like listen to this sam, his eyes widend with respect and he said "dayum thats cool". can we buy the soundtrack i just want this tune?!!!! did i mention i like the seratos music? ")

i freaking love LOVE LOoooOoOoVE, the music in seratos, i enter the zone, and im like ohhmerrrgerrd, rift now has actual music in its zones! <3 it. its theme, tone just everything about it. its delicous. i sit there and just listen to it, on full blast in my headphones and daydream, i was sitting next to my brother (a wow fanboy) and i was like listen to this sam, his eyes widend with respect and he said "dayum thats cool". can we buy the soundtrack i just want this tune?!!!! did i mention i like the seratos music? ")

Yeah for me, the zone music from what I've heard goes in this order of personal appeal:

Yeah, so far the sound team has done brilliantly with the music in SL. I still haven't explored everything yet myself, and I think I'll keep it that way. Play SL at release with game music turned on for a change